Editor, Beyond Provost Reed Dasenbrock's warning in Thursday's Daily Lobo about a possible "chilling effect" on creative writing, I beg our mourning UNM community to consider that creative writing is often one of very few outlets available to Asian immigrants such as gunman Cho Seung-Hui.
Editor, Like everyone else, I am thinking a lot about this nation's problem with school shootings and how we should answer this problem. It seems like every semester we hear about another mentally unstable person taking the lives of innocent students and thinking he or she can get away with it by taking his or her own life.
Editor, I would like to respond to Doug Rocks-Macqueen's letter in the April 12 issue of the Daily Lobo. While I am of the same mind as Rocks-Macqueen on the issue that service-learning programs should be an option that the University provides students, it should be known that these programs do exist and are available with many courses.
Editor, I'm writing in response to Thursday's article about how creative writing programs may be affected by the tragedy at Virginia Tech. As a creative writer, I am appalled at even the thought of implementing any sort of policy regarding what we write. Violence in a work of fiction is simply something writers use to create an interesting story.
Editor, In a sense, I can relate to Cho Seung-Hui, the gunman who killed 33 people including himself at Virginia Tech. Throughout grade school, I was the perfect bully target - an awkward, chubby and timid kid with thick glasses. Like him, I also had feelings of vengeance and bitterness against everyone.
Editor, With all the confusion over the cause of the massacre at Virginia Tech, one factor - probably the most important one - is the Health Insurance Privacy and Accountability Act. If law enforcement agencies were aware of the mental health condition of the shooter, this whole tragedy could probably have been avoided.
Editor, In response to UNM student Ahmad Musleh's letter in Thursday's Daily Lobo, Musleh claims columnist Scott Darnell's entire April 12 column is "libelous and defamatory" based on no other reason than his disagreement with the author's views. Regarding the need for "factual accuracy," Musleh should have checked his own writing before submission.
Editor, While I'm sure Daniel Martinez had good intentions in his letter in Wednesday's Daily Lobo, the one-sided perspective he used rendered practically all of his points void. The main focus of his letter seemed to be that universities deny people the right to defend themselves by banning firearms on campus.
Editor, We've been reminded in the past days of the failure of American society to control its own weapons of destruction. The loss of 33 lives is certainly tragic, but do the same Americans who cry and pray for those 33 respond likewise to other, greater losses of life? This one act of violence will be in the news for two weeks or more, yet there is barely a passing mention of thousands of innocent Iraqis killed in the civil war we have facilitated.
Editor, I read the story in Wednesday's Daily Lobo about UNM's high ranking for Hispanic graduate students with great interest. While this is extremely good news, I was surprised that the article took a decidedly pessimistic view of UNM efforts to identify and correct problem areas for Hispanics.
Editor, I agree with Rachel Fredman's letter on April 6 about factual accuracy. In columnist Scott Darnell's case, his entire April 12 column was libelous and defamatory. The title of the column, "Iran advances global terrorism," is beyond misleading. If Iran allegedly has ties to Hezbollah, that is not global - that just means it could be involved in the Israel-Lebanon conflict.
Remember the moment you heard about the shootings on the Virginia Tech campus? How you heard of it and where you were? Your reaction? The reactions of your friends and those around you?
Editor, This is in response to Jason Darensburg's letter in Wednesday's Daily Lobo. I thought it was bad enough on the day of the shooting that the news brought on Jack Thompson as a credible expert on school shootings, allowing him to use the tragedy as a soapbox to promote his theory that video games serve as a training ground for future and past school shooters.
Editor, The horrible news about the Virginia Tech massacre has got me thinking. My heart goes out to all the victims of this pointless crime, although I can't help but think this kind of senseless, brutal act is endemic of the senseless, brutal society we have created for ourselves in the U.
Editor, I'm sure Virginia Tech has a no-weapons policy, similar to UNM and every other campus in the U.S. Didn't this gunman know he couldn't have a firearm on campus? Didn't he read his student handbook? Obviously, he didn't. The point I am trying to address is that policies, signs, student handbooks and contracts don't prevent people from coming on campus with a gun - or anywhere, for that matter.
Editor, It is clear to everyone but stubborn Bush supporters living in a state of total denial that the current White House occupants would not survive the Nuremberg trials. Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz agrees. He said that Bush should be tried for war crimes.
Editor, I would like to compliment Brian Fejer on what I found to be a rather lengthy rant Monday. He calls for the removal of effectively everyone in Congress, the president and the vice president. He proposes that we get rid of Congress. I don't know what world Fejer thinks he lives in.
Editor, I was involved in the Geek Chic Auction in the SUB as an auctionee this past Friday, hosted by the Society of Women Engineers. I believe in the worthy vision of this society, which is to increase and retain female enrollment in the technical fields of engineering and computer science.
by Joseph J. Garc°a Daily Lobo columnist The Student Fee Review Board rules state, "The officials making appointments to the SFRB should use their best efforts to ensure that the SFRB's overall membership reflects the diverse makeup of the University." As GPSA president, I appointed Michelle Touson and Emira Ibrahimpasic as the graduate student representatives.
Editor, Though I am not a resident of New Mexico, I am a citizen of the U.S., part of the nationwide constituency of the future president. I am also part of the immense population of bereaved mothers who are shocked, offended and appalled by Gov. Bill Richardson's veto of bill SB17 and his callous and unthinking response in his accompanying veto message.
Solutions by The State News
